Charity donations:  France vs UK

A short break from Gites today...another watchout for you on Uk vs French tax.

If you have been donating to charity in the UK, you probably filled in a UK Gift Aid form.  This is an excellent tool to maximise the value of a gift to a UK charity (and for higher rate tax payers to claim back some tax) - UNTIL you stop being UK tax resident or stop paying UK income tax.  Then you may find you have to repay HMRC the tax relief they gave the charity.  Not good.

The best approach then is not to stop charity giving, but instead to make it French tax efficient:

- stop the UK donation AND tell the charity to cancel the Gift aid; and then

- donate to a French equivalent via an ongoing / monthly payment scheme - just look at their websites.  The WWF has a French equivalent, so does the RSPCA.  It is generally simple and the Charity should give you the relevant paperwork for your French tax return, 

Final piece of good news - you will also likely find the tax deductibility of the gift is more generous in France than in the UK - so you can increase your gross gift and the net cost ends up the same or less.